Number 6 Fumbles

Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read for Introspective Girls
Review: Hands down, the most engaging book I've read in two years. It's fast paced, stream-of-conciousness writing. Beck faces challenges every girl faces and with the same uncertainty. Although she's obviously intelligent (UPenn, hello!), she doesn't know what to do about boys or friends or herself. Solar-Tuttle has a knack for capturing scenery and also self-realizations that aren't melodramatic or lofty. She adds insight to seemingly unimportant topics. One that comes to mind is a small section in the book where Beck describes her hate for the word "whatever." It's like, Yes! I hate that word, too! And another passage that was particularly memorable was when Beck was walking/running around campus and felt like she could do anything, that she had survived- herself, her friends, and men. Finally, I think Solar-Tuttle made an excellent choice in narrating in the present tense, with occasional run-on sentences. You are there with Beck, thinking and seeing the same things she does.

Looking at the other reviews, people either loved it or hated it. I'm warning those who are looking to "relive UPenn," who expect a love story or sex scenes, or who aren't open to youth and our manic, sometimes incoherent, thought processes. That is the beauty of this book!

Rating:
Summary: a raw look at undergrad life
Review: I couldn't put this book down. As a recent college grad, I definately think this book dealt with common but rarely mentioned problems for college students. There are so many things they we think about but never talk about, and this book discusses them all. I really enjoyed this book.

Rating:
Summary: An account of a Person Nature
Review: i haven't gotten this into reading a book since the perks of being a wallflower. honest.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I read this book and found myself in awe. I have never related so closely to any character in any book as I did with Beck in Number 6 Fumbles. I read it in one day because I couldn't put it down. This is a book that all girls who are anxious about entering college should read. I read it after reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower and it is just as good if not maybe a little bit better.

Rating:
Summary: Capturing college life
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a college student, I found it captured the feelings of someone my age extremely well and even led me to examine my own college experiences. Solar-Tuttle did an excellent job creating the main character, Beck- who was both dynamic and realistic. I have already passed this book along to many of my friends who have also enjoyed it. The characters and plot line ring true in this book and I would highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A quick, breezy read but...
Review: If you are an alumnus(a) of the University of Pennsylvania like I am, reading Number 6 Fumbles would probably be worth your while. The mentions of places like the Palladium, Murph's or Uni-Mart (which are both now out of business), or even the legendary bar "Smoke's", will bring back fond memories of one's college days at Penn. That is often the desired effect of attending Alumni Day and running into your old classmates. (Incidentally, the author, Rachel Solar-Tuttle reportedly was due to attend Alumni Day this past May for her own ten-year reunion. I wonder how much reminiscing was done.) However, it is uncertain if any other readers, who wouldn't get the inside jokes, would get much else out of the story.

The novel reads like a college-aged version of Sex and the City: tales of the romantic exploits of Rebecca "Beck" Lowe and her friends, as they hop from bar to bar and parties attended by all of the hip people. Despite having made a number of new male acquaintances, there is one guy who remains elusive. Freshman Ryan Weiss is Mr. Big as Beck's Carrie Bradshaw: a tall, good-looking guy who knows how to party but is noncommital and emotionally unavailable. Even the final major scene with Ryan...reads...like a Carrie Bradshaw revenge fantasy...The novel succeeds in giving the reader a voyeuristic view into the lives of these people.

The error by the Penn football player, for which the book is named, is supposed to propel Beck into a pseudo-depression and serves as a catalyst for her "soul-searching" journey. The reader is being asked to suspend some disbelief in order to accept this premise. It doesn't work; the Number 6 subplot seems tacked on in order to give the novel a false sense of legitimacy.

Bottom line: if you are looking for a light and somewhat trashy read, Number 6 Fumbles might be for you- to read on the bus/train ride on your way back to Penn for Alumni Day or Homecoming.

Rating:
Summary: A decent novel
Review: Rebecca "Back" Lowe. Perfectionist. College Student. Party Girl. Heavy Drinker. Beck knows she doesn't have a perfect life but she has a lot of fun. As a Sophomore in U-Penn Beck goes to all the frat parties, and has visited all of the bars in town with the help of her fake ID. Her grades are near perfect because of her amazing ability to write amazing papers under maximum pressure. But everything changes the day she sees Number 6, a college football player, fumble the ball at a football game. Her life is suddenly different. She's questioning everything that she knows and does. Nothing makes sense anymore, the guys she flirts with, the bars she drinks at, her friends... Beck knows she needs to get her life back together but she doesn't know how.

Number 6 fumbles is an entertaining and honest book about college life. But it's not perfect. The main characters are very real but everyone else seems to be flimsy, more like extras in a movie than real characters. The plot is flimsy and although interesting at times at other it seems like the author wants to see how much she can shock us. There isn't even a real ending. The plot isn't really resolved and the characters just go on with their lives. In some books that would work but it this one it seems kind of abrupt. I would recommend this book to some people but not necessarily to people that are looking for a piece of fiction that's moving or meaningful. In the past MTV has put out many books that I would recommend over this such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Still this book is decent and if you accept it for what it is, you'll probably enjoy it.